Ice melters have been known and used for many years on roads, bridges, driveways, walkways, and the like. However, presently-used ice melters commonly cause corrosion damage to steel bridges, parking decks, railroad station platforms, guard rails on roads, metal structures, fences and gates, and the like. Although there have been attempts to reduce the corrosive effect of ice melters, they have not been sufficiently effective, and they are not always safe to the environment. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,868, phosphates have been added to ice melters to reduce their corrosive effects, but phosphates have been barred by local ordinances in some areas because they are not environmentally safe. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,650, an anticorrosive compound such as 2-butyne-1,4-diol and an organic acid were well dispersed and incorporated with ice melters to produce a product which is about as corrosive as tap water. However, it has been found to be expensive.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved ice melter which has anti-corrosion properties, is environmentally safer, and is less expensive.